Canada’s largest banks have at least US$37 billion in disclosed holdings in U.S.-listed data-centre and digital infrastructure firms, according to a new analysis by The Logic. That represents a fivefold increase since late 2022 as investment tied to AI infrastructure has accelerated.
Stephen Johnston contributed analysis to the piece, noting that domestic bank lending to data centres and AI-adjacent infrastructure has increased meaningfully over the past 18 months while remaining a relatively small share of total assets at the institution level. He also highlighted that as banks increasingly use structures such as synthetic risk transfer to manage concentration, portions of credit risk may migrate toward a smaller pool of specialist investors. Johnston noted that if AI profitability assumptions ultimately disappoint, losses could become more concentrated across participants exposed to the same underlying assets.
Original article here